SEC probes Oando, Mobil Oil now 11 Plc

Oando Nigeria Plc is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission over observed malpractices in the company’s financial statements.

The investigation was reported to have been triggered by the petition filed by some foreign investors over the shareholding structure following the $1.65bn paid by Oando for the acquisition of the oil production assets of ConocoPhilips in 2014.

“We expect this news to drag the share price performance of the ticker as investors flee for safety,” analysts at Meristem Securities Limited said on Friday.

However, while responding to the news, Oando said on Friday that it understood that SEC “was in receipt of correspondence containing (in our opinion) unsubstantiated, misleading and defamatory claims with respect to various matters that had already received board, shareholder and where required SEC approval.

“The company is fully co-operating with SEC in the discharge of its duties as the capital markets regulator by providing all appropriate clarifications and rebuttals on the matters raised in the said correspondence. Oando will be happy to provide full disclosure of the outcome as soon as the SEC review is completed.”

Meanwhile, the management of Nipco Holdings Plc has announced the change of name of Mobil Oil Nigeria to 11 Plc (pronounced as Double-One Plc).

The company noted that all service stations and range of lubricant products would, however, maintain the Mobil brand.

The company had on July 5 this year said the proposed mandatory takeover bid offer period by Nipco Investment Limited of 3.23 per cent equity stake, representing 11,644,544 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each in Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc (held by qualifying shareholders), hadbeen extended.

Further to the earlier closure date announced for the submission of completed acceptance form(s), Cordros Capital, in a filing with the Nigerian Stock Exchange, informed dealing member firms that SEC had granted a formal approval towards the extension of the closing date for the MTO from June 29, 2017 to Jury 27, 2017.

This move, it added in a statement, was targeted at providing all qualifying shareholders ample time to tender their shares and ensure minority shareholder satisfaction.